Monthly Archives: February 2016

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You know what I love – Metal Gear Solid V. This game is phenomenal. The only thing that held the game back was the fact that it’s a Metal Gear Solid title. The ridiculous plots of those games just killed all the chance this game had to be one of the greatest games of all time. This game’s plot was pants-on-head retarded, but the gameplay was the single greatest gameplay for any stealth action game before. This game set the bar for how these sorts of games should play, and I am ACHING to have another game like it. Were it not for the retarded episodic deal, I would think the new Hitman might be up to the challenge. Alas, we’ll never know, will we? This game wanted to be about all sorts of ugly themes that I think are worth talking about.

In Ground Zeroes, it wanted to talk about illegal detainment, child soldiers, and the cost of dealing in murder. Big Boss wanted to believe that what he was doing was a good thing, but his methods were unbelievably ugly. The Phantom Pain wanted to talk about the exploitation of war to fuel the war economy, and the work of a mercenary outfit with delusions of promoting freedom. If it hadn’t been tied to the franchise it was, what it could have been.

My favorite character in this game is Quiet. Not only is she one of the most underrated female companions, her existence and the controversy surrounding it just made me appreciate the guts that Hideo Kojima has. He is 100% alpha, and that’s a good thing. So, with that in mind, I thought I would post cutscenes showing the story and growth of Quiet through the game. One of these videos already has a copyright lean on it from Konami. Yeah, Fair Use is bullshit, I guess. Anyway, enjoy Parts One and Two.

I hope you enjoy. Tell me if you liked this game or not in the Comments.

Until next time, a quote,

“She’s a crack-shot, a damn good scout. Pretty good for a clandestine op.” – Ocelot, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

I read this article in The Washington Post which talked about the interview process for going to work at Facebook. I am not remotely qualified to work there. I don’t know how to code. I was a Journalism and Public Communication major in college. So I know that I would never be up for such a position. But the question still interested me enough to answer. I’ve been having a rough time lately trying to find a new job. It’s so frustrating. I just had an absolutely fantastic interview today. It was awesome. Me and the guy interviewing me clicked and had this great repore. So that seems good, right? Of course, he told me that he pretty much gave every applicant an interview. And my resume sucks. So I know that my chances are slim.

With that in mind, I thought I would answer the apparently very daunting and revealing question that Facebook asks potential employees. Let me know what you think.

“On your very best day at work — the day you come home and think you have the best job in the world — what did you do that day?”

Man, the last time I felt that way. It’s been a long time. So long a time. Years ago, now. My favorite job I have ever had was as a bakery clerk at Fred Meyer. If it paid a living wage, I’d still be doing that job. But it doesn’t, so here I am. Trying to get in with clerical work in the medical field. A field that is dominated by women. I’m a guy, who isn’t the best looking, trying to get a job that I am instantly at a disadvantage for. It’s hard. Wow, that was a digression. Guess I should get back to the question.

The very best day at work, when I felt like I had the best job in the world, what did I do? I think the last time I felt that way was when I worked at my college’s library. It was a dull job, but when I was first starting out, I thought that I had hit gold. This was going to be a great opportunity. A job that I could keep when I was in college. Something that could work with my school schedule and pay a pretty good wage. I felt pretty good. The days that I felt the best were the ones where I would be driving home. I had to commute to the job during the summer. Not the best, but it was what it was. There was one year where I was taking the bus into the city, but I didn’t do that nearly as often as I should have. My parents were more than a little unhappy about that fact.

But the days when I truly felt my best were when I could drive home. It’s summer here in the great white north. Everything was all warm. I would have the window down, with one arm resting on it. I got a great tan…on my elbow. That’s it. Just there. What I did that day was just relish that moment. When I’m driving home after a long day, and felt totally at ease. Although, that wasn’t the only time.

There was a point where I was living with a girl I was dating. I was still at that job. The place we had was ratty. I am convinced that there was a mold problem. But I remember that during the time when we lived together, those were also days when I felt like I had the best job in the world. I knew that I couldn’t keep it forever. In fact, I knew that it was time to trade up. The place we had had steep rent, and she couldn’t pay equal share to me working fast food. But when I would come home, and there was someone there waiting for me, those were the best days of my life. Having a great job is wonderful. I hope the one I interviewed for today gets to be that great opportunity. The thing that truly makes those days worth everything, though, is when you are able to go home and have something to go back to. It’s a feeling I have missed for a very long time.

So there’s my answer to the question. How did I do?

Until next time, a quote,

“I saw myself as a knight-errant…but the damsel in distress stabbed me in the back, my sword shattered on the dragon’s hide, and my grail turned out to be the bottom of a whiskey bottle.” -John Taylor

Welcome into the world of me reviewing a movie that is about some pretty complicated stuff, and a story about a legal precedent and a lesbian couple. Be very afraid, people. It’s not to say that I can’t do a review about this kind of movie. One of my favorite films of 2014 was Blue is the Warmest Color. That movie was infinitely more risque than this one, but it was still a story about subject matter that my maleness is woefully short on having first-hand experience on. And given the nature of what this movie was talking about, maybe I am treading on thin ice. But here I am, reviewing a movie that I saw, and since I follow Ellen Page on Instagram, I have seen promotional material of for some time. Let’s get started.

The plot of this film follows the story of a woman named two women, Det. Laurel Hester and her domestic partner (this was back in the days before gay marriage was what it is today) Stacy. Laurel is a detective in a police department, and very good at her job. She’s had to keep the fact that she’s gay under wraps for job security reasons. When she meets this far younger girl, the two fall fast and it makes the fact that she is gay that much harder to hide from her life. But all of that falls apart when she finds out that she is in the late stages of cancer. Now, facing the end of her life, she is facing another legal hurdle – the fact that she can’t leave her assets to her young partner.

So, this is another film that is about an event of historical significance, along with a personal story about the significant person. I want to put out there that I am not the biggest fan of these kinds of films. There’s a reason – they tend to be very boring. Talking about history can be important. I acknowledge the importance of what this film is talking about. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is still talking about a historical event. Which leads into another problem that these kinds of films can have.

I get that talking about an event with some historical significance is going to lead in to some controversial ideas getting thrown around, but the problem is that so many of these movies get SO fucking preachy. And this one is no exception. There was one scene in-particular that bothered me. See, you have Laurel talking to her partner at work. He’s a pretty alright guy, and he’s had her back through thick and thin. Like any good detective, I assume. This guy has really shown that he has her back, and when he finds out that she’s gay, the fact that she gets so pissy with him is kind of frustrating. It’s like, he tells her about the time he told her about finding out he had a kid. The implication being that he has told her something that was incredibly difficult and personal to him. His reasoning was that they are partners. In the field, they have to depend on one-another. It’s a perfectly good rationale. So, when he finds out that she’s been keeping something this personal from him for years, it rightly upsets him. I get where he’s coming from. He flat-out tells her that he wouldn’t have turned on her. What is the response? She gets so mad at him and basically throws in his face the fact that he’s a straight, white man. That bugged me. I mean, for one, who talks like that? Who just, in a conversation with someone they have grown to trust for years, makes a point about their gender and orientation? I could maybe have seen this scene with her being unsure, and maybe having that lead to the two of them confronting how hard it has been for her. That would have been nice. Would have shown their connection are partners and how he’s also a good friend. But it was just one of several of the instances that this movie decided to shoe-horn a message in there.

This is one of those instances where I can’t say that this is a film that I think is really spectacular. There are some good performances. Julianne Moore has yet to do poorly in any role. Ellen Page did very well. Though maybe I am biased because I think she’s kind of hot. No, seriously, the scenes where they are selling the tension she is going through are pretty good. But Laurel’s partner in the force is also a very good role. This guy shows that he is willing to look past the prejudices of the small town community they live in to stand with his partner to the end. I like him. He’s played by a guy who is kind of the asshole in every movie he is in, and this role gave him a soft side that works. They also have Steve Carrel as a gay Jew. I kind of love that.

I don’t know if the history they got was accurate. I see there’s a documentary about this issue, and I may get around to watching that at some point. Overall, I can’t say that this is a bad movie. It’s not. There’s nothing objectively wrong with it. This just isn’t the kind of film that I find interesting. I can watch and enjoy Blue is the Warmest Color because it was a fantastic coming-of-age story about a girl confused about her sexuality. This was a film that tells an important story, but it just didn’t keep my attention. If historical fiction films like this are the kind of thing you like, you probably will like this one. It’s a good movie. It’s just not my cup of tea.

This post is going to be all about me complaining. About what, you may ask? Simple – the fact that they changed the soundtrack to one of my favorite games. I’ve been playing the remastered version of Final Fantasy X. While I won’t say that the game has aged incredibly well, it is still fun. But there is one thing that really just irks me about it. Something that was one of the reasons that I loved the original so much – they changed the soundtrack. The original game had one of the best soundtracks of all time. No joke, it was Nobuo Uematsu at his best. I loved the music in that game so much that I have a decent amount of the soundtrack in iTunes library. It was so damn good.

Which leads me to the question – why did they change it?! There’s an old phrase – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Like if they ever get around to making a movie based on Mass Effect, and they’re just going to CG Garrus in there anyway, why get someone else to do the voice-work? Seems like an awful waste of time and money, to me. But it seems that this is another year where I am griping about Square Enix and the stuff that they do. First it was the endless delays and lack of a release date of Final Fantasy XV. Then it was the fact that they turned the latest Hitman game episodic. Oh, and before I forget – turning the remake to Final Fantasy VII episodic as well. Effectively killing the hype for BOTH of those games, for me. This company is making a lot of stupid mistakes. I’m hoping that Marvel and Star Wars in the new Kingdom Hearts isn’t the next one. Yeah, unpopular opinion – I don’t want either of those franchises in there. The appeal of Kingdom Hearts was how it took old Disney and breathed new life into it. Now that Pixar is nostalgic, here’s hoping that we can see some Toy Story or something in there.

Back to the soundtrack, these changes are so bad! They are distractingly bad! Every single track they changed was for the worst. My personal biggest gripe was what they did to the theme for the final battle with Seymour. Listen to this and tell me what you hear.

Do you hear that awesome buildup? Do you hear that angelic up-swell of the music? This feels like something where you are about to be fighting for your life! That is one of my favorite boss themes in all of gaming. But let’s listen to the remaster version.

How is it that the game made for the PS2 sounds more like it was orchestral than the Remaster? Seriously, this is terrible! They changed that angelic up-swell with some electronic bullshit! That sounds so fucking bad! How can anyone stomach that?!

I could go on and on for hours about this, but the truth is that it’s just disappointing. I wish that they had an option for you to go back to the original soundtrack, because this just sucks. Like, so much. Square Enix has this bad habit lately of making things that are perfectly serviceable into things that aren’t. How can they do that?! They took a remake to their most popular and overhyped game of all time and turned into a mess. They have taken a reboot that everyone was looking forward to and turned everyone off in seconds. Oh, and the game that everyone has been hyped through the moon for? Yeah, they still haven’t given a definitive release date. It’s still up in the air. This company is making lots of mistakes, and it is doing them no favors.

Having seen all the posts that have followed Channel Awesome’s video (linked here) about copyright abuse on YouTube, there are some things that have become abundantly clear to me. The first is that nothing is going to change until the voices for change get so loud that the massively-powerful corporation that now owns YouTube is forced to listen. They are currently very happy to just sit back and close their ears to the problem, because they don’t want to risk their bottom line. And after all, who is going to bring in more money? The content creators, or the big corporations who can sue them? Google is a major corporation that is pretty much evil too, so they side with their own. It’s like cops. They always look out for themselves.

I have been experiencing this problem as well. I have practically no subs on YouTube. I have 22 people who watch my content, and I get shit for views. I’m nobody. It has taken me forever to build a sub base on here, and this is the written word. I am in a market now where the things that make channels has changed. I don’t have the production capabilities to keep pace with the big channels, but even that doesn’t guarantee a following. It’s an ugly time to be a growing channel. Uglier still since the major corporations can take your money away at a moment’s notice. I occasionally post clips from games. Not long plays or anything like that. Just clips. I did a series covering the growth of the relationship of Chloe and Max in Life is Strange. But because some of those clips have licensed music in them, the moment the were uploaded, I had a content ID flag, where the potential money from those videos has been taken away. I haven’t challenged those. I mean, what’s the point? Besides the fact that I get shit for views, there’s no money coming in. So yeah.

All of what is happening lately and the amount of voices that are speaking out is telling me that YouTube does not give two shits about what is happening with their content creators. They will enable the behavior of major corporations that want to abuse the system, but they will totally look the other way when it comes to the people who helped make them the powerhouse that they are. Doug Walker originally started his own channel because he wanted to get away from the abusive practices of YouTube. But now he’s been forced back on there due to how overwhelmingly powerful they are. This site has a monopoly on online videos. Which makes the fact that they clearly don’t give two shits about the people who produce content for them all the more disturbing.

As Doug Walker pointed out in an earlier video (linked here), with all this copyright nonsense being brought before YouTube, there is never a human being involved in ANY of it. It’s always a system. There is no public input from YouTube or Google about any of them. It took Doug mobilizing his base to yell to get them to change the strikes on his account. What kind of chance do you think someone like me has to get my video monetization back? None. YouTube is clearly apathetic to the problems with copyright abuse. This is a problem. It shouldn’t have to take screaming fans giving them the finger to get them to sort out their shit.

But what can be done? That’s the big mystery. A lot of people are talking about it. Liberal Viewer had a rather interesting perspective. Given that he is a lawyer, his ideas may be the most plausible to enact in order to combat this abuse.

There does need to be something done. The Internet is not a forgiving place. YouTube has a monopoly now, but the reality is that people on the Internet are always looking for a way to do things better. It’s only a matter of time until someone comes along and finds a way to do this sort of shit better. That should frighten YouTube. But again, their utter lack of communication tells me that the people on the top either don’t know, don’t care, or simple think that all of this is a non-issue. Regardless of which it is, the result will hurt them. Just look at what’s happening with Twitter. Their stock is in the toilet, due to the bad decisions they are making lately.

Mundane Matt has started a movement to bring the content creators together, to combat YouTube’s bullshit. His latest update is very uplifting (linked here). It shows that the YouTube community can band together. And maybe, just maybe, if we can make all our voices heard, things can happen. Googles needs to start paying attention. There needs to be some repercussions for the people abusing copyright. Because all it takes is the next pioneer to come forward and tell the people of YouTube that they can do it better. Then there will be a run on that site. Just look at what happened to Twitter and The Fine Bros. You’ve been warned, Google.

Until next time, a quote,

“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi

I hate to talk about YouTube drama, but there is something that I want us all to talk about here. Why? Because I want to give you all an education in how PR can blow up in your face. Especially when you’re REALLY dumb. And it is going to blow up in the face of someone who REALLY should have stopped this ages ago. She should have just eaten being wrong about something, said her apologies, and then let it go. But instead, she’s pressing this. And it won’t end well for her. The only person who seems unaware of this fact is McDermott herself. Perhaps she didn’t learn from when bad PR blew up in the face of Laughing Witch and not only destroyed her channel, but her business as well.

Jenny McDermott is no stranger to bad PR. She started an IndieGogo for the people of her work that were supposedly going hungry after a kitchen fire. Too bad that there was a statement by the actual company that said that that wasn’t the case. Everyone had money for the holidays, and McDermott was full of shit. What’s more, in a follow-up statement, the company castigated McDermott because the truth was that her little crowd-funding might have affected things with their insurance, who was paying the employees until the damage was repaired. After it all totally blew up, McDermott was fired from the restaurant. That should have been a point where she could learn from her mistakes. But nope. Because this person is a pathological liar who can’t help herself (no wonder she’s friends with Brett Keane) and desperately needs the drama to amp up the sub count, she decided to go right off the deep end and go after Armoured Skeptic again. Only this time, it wasn’t in some casual accusation that he tried to fuck her (why anyone would want to screw Jenny McDermott is beyond me). This time, she called him a statutory rapist.

In a video that she deleted from her channel, she laid it all out, talking about YouTube vloggers she hates, and he was right at the top of her list, along with his girlfriend, ShoeOnHead. Someone, however, was nice enough to download her video before she deleted it, and did a response to it. Watch for yourself.

Seems pretty cut and dry, doesn’t it? Not only has McDermott dragged Armoured Skeptic’s name through the mud as a rapist, but she has dragged June right in, as a rape victim. Both of which are outright lies that McDermott pulled straight out her ass. Naturally, Skeptic wasn’t just going to take this. So he informed her that there is pending legal action for libel. I would think that defamation would be the way to go, and it very well could be. After all, it was McDermott who decided to make this into a joke by calling it “lolbel.” Yeah, I bet it will be real funny when you are having to sell your assets to pay for how much he takes you for.

McDermott, he has you dead to rights! You defamed him! In a very public forum you decided to accuse this man of being an unpunished rapist. Then you turn around and say that Shoe needs our sympathy as a rape victim. What the fuck is wrong with you?! Now you’d think, with pending legal action coming her way, she would be inclined to make a public apology and try and make this go away. But nope. Dressing up as the most terrifying thing I have ever seen, she doubled-down on her comments and seems to think that this lawsuit is all a giant laugh. Take a look at Charmingman’s video to this madness.

I’ve done a couple of courses in my degree program that very much apply here. The first was Crisis Communication. This was where you have to learn how to do PR for a company in a bad way. I wish the job market wasn’t such a bitch right now, because I would be damn good at doing this for all kinds of companies. I know how to write press releases, organize a press conference, work an ad campaign and all sorts of other things. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall of the room where Subway had to figure out how to best address the Jared Fogle mess. The next class was Communication Law. This class was the most boring, miserable experience of my time in college, but it was still educational. You know, when the teacher was on point.

Defamation is a real issue, Jenny. Skeptic is coming for you, and his case is rock-solid. Your choosing to double-down on your comments isn’t helping. You’ve dug yourself a damn big hole, and if you’re not careful, you’re going to buried in it. I don’t get how nobody has told you what should be obvious – back the fuck off. Seriously, drop this. Say you were wrong, make a big public apology, and this can go away. Why are you continuing down a path that ANYONE with any knowledge of the legal system can tell you is going to ruin you, financially. You’ve ticked off all the boxes that I remember for making a case for defamation. You said something that is demonstrably untrue. You are aware of its lack of validity. You did it with the intent of damaging another person’s reputation and causing financial damage. There you go. Greg has you, dead to rights. Just stop!

Anyone looking to start a business or become a public personality, take note of what McDermott is doing, and how bad this is going to be for her when it’s over. Jenny’s going to the poor house after this is done. Hopefully she has family or something, but I haven’t seen a more open-and-shut case for defamation in my life.

To the Armoured Skeptic and Shoe, sorry this had to happen. This must make both of you a combination of all sorts of negative emotions. Skeptic has this chick dead to rights, and I think it’s good that this is going to court. Maybe Brett Keane can take some notes.

Until next time, a quote,

“Every story has a happy ending. You just need to know when to stop.” -Annie M.G. Schmidt

The new Street Fighter game is out. The fact that I am not a fighting game person aside, I have heard all kinds of stuff from the gamers about it. The reviews have all been glowing. Of course. The day that a major gaming news outlet shits on a game for its problem is the day that my cat takes up playing the fiddle. Gaming outlets are paid for good reviews. Not in the typical way that people think. There was a rather fantastic video about how gaming news works that really took a shit on how crooked it all is.

So yeah, the games media loves this game. The gamers took a dump on it. Whether it was the SJW community spewing their usual bullshit about how “sexualized” female characters are (even though I doubt that any of them actually played this game), or the people who had legitimate complaints, like the fact that the online match-making was broken, or that whole parts of the game were missing. But one thing that I saw was this – there is no single player in this game. There is no Arcade mode or single-player match-making of any kind. This just baffles me. Like Capcom just wants to give a giant finger to the people who aren’t just playing for the e-sports aspect.

I am seeing this quite a lot, lately. The new “Battlefront” had no single player either. It seems like single-player games are being featured less and less. With the new Division coming out, they are saying that there is a legit single player, but everyone who has played the beta has said that even the single player is multi-player. So that’s out too. What’s more, games that only have single player are given a ton of shit too. Like if there’s not a multiplayer element, that’s a bad thing.

Let me make something clear – if a game is multi-player only, that can be fine. But here’s the deal – not if it’s a game that has already had a very integral single player mode. Like EA’s transgression against the name Battlefront. That series once had a very good single player mode. It was made in the day when online gaming was a very different thing. So gamers like myself were just in for the single player. At least if we were on consoles, which I have always been. It’s the land I grew up in. Same deal with Street Fighter V. This series has ALWAYS had an Arcade mode. It’s always had a mode for the people who don’t play games just to fight against other people. Hell, for all its faults, Call of Duty has made sure to have a single player campaign. And not all of them were very bad. Some of them were pretty damn good. Like the one to Modern Warfare 2. The first two acts of that game were fucking amazing! Getting to experience modern warfare on American soil was one of the best moments in gaming I’ve ever had. No joke, that was phenomenal.

This new trend of moving away from single-player games is bothering, to me. Maybe I’m just some old fart and not in touch with the youth of today, but I game for story. And I don’t think its too much to ask for a franchise that has always had a single player to not just turn their back on it in a new entry. There are the games like Planetside 2, which has no single player. And that’s fine. It’s an IP that never did. It’s all about the online space. I got that. Same with the Tribes games. But don’t just take a giant shit on gamers who have made you the multi-billion dollar industry.

What do you all think? Let me know in the Comments.

Until next time, a quote,

“Age is just a number. It’s totally irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine.” – Joan Collins